Woman Dies After Dog Saliva Leads To Rare Infection.

Woman Dies After Dog Saliva Leads To Rare Infection. A Wisconsin woman died after her family says she contracted an extremely rare infection from a kind of bacteria found in some dogs’ saliva. Sharon Larson, 58, started feeling a little ill on June 20, the day after her puppy nipped her, her husband Daniel Larson told NBC News. The next day, she felt so weak that she couldn’t even hold a glass of water, and a local urgent care center sent her to the emergency room. Daniel Larson told local news outlet WTMJ that his wife was treated at the Wheaton Franciscan hospital in Franklin, Wisconsin. Ascension Wisconsin, the nonprofit group that oversees the hospital. At the hospital, Larson told NBC, doctors found that his wife’s kidneys were failing. On June 22, her blood tested positive for capnocytophaga canimorsus, common bacteria found in the mouths of dogs and cats. Though the bacteria are common, it’s extremely rare for them to cause serious illness. Doctors treated her with antibiotics, but she died the next afternoon. Sharon Larson’s case is especially curious because it happened the same month that Wisconsin resident Greg Manteufel contracted a severe capnocytophaga infection that led to the amputation of parts of his arms and legs. Manteufel fell ill about two miles from where Larson contracted her infection.